members of the ContinentalCongress attended sermons preached by Presbyterian John Witherspoon. WhileThomas Jefferson worked to separate church and state in Virginia, hepersonally raised money to help pay the salaries of Anglican ministers whowould lose their tax-supported paychecks. In matters of religion, theleaders of America's Revolution agreed to disagree.Finally, unlike the French Revolution, the American Revolution broughtforth what would become one of the world's freest societies. There were, ofcourse, difficulties. During the "critical period" of American history,from 1783- 1787, the 13 states acted as 13 separate nations, each levyingimport duties as it pleased. As far as New York was concerned, tariffscould be placed on New Jersey cider, produced across the river, as easilyas on West Indian rum. The war had been won, but daily battles in themarketplace were being lost.The U.S. Constitution changed all that by forbidding states to levy tariffsagainst one another. The Constitution also sought to protect propertyrights, including rights to ideas (patents and copyrights) and beliefs (theFirst Amendment). For Madison, this was indeed the sole purpose of civilgovernment. In 1792 he wrote: "Government is instituted to protect propertyof every sort. . . . This being the end of government, that alone is a justgovernment which impartially secures to every man whatever is his own."6Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, helped restorefaith in the public credit with his economic program. It was at his urgingthat the U.S. dollar be defined in terms of hard money, silver and gold.(At the Constitutional Convention, the delegates were so opposed to fiatpaper money that Luther Martin of Maryland complained that they were"filled with paper money dread.")Hamilton's centralizing tendencies would have been inappropriate at anyother time in American history; but in the 1790s, his program helped 13nations combine to form one Unit...
